Okay okay, no leprechauns, but how cute would it be if Irish families had a version of “elf on the shelf”, but with a leprechaun? 
Remember when I said my family loves to get together for any reason to eat food? St. Patrick’s Day is one of those reasons. We really only eat corned beef and cabbage around this time, unless we go out for dinner somewhere and they have “the best” Reuben. Anyone have any suggestions in the Twin Cities area? We have tried them all. My mom did make Reuben’s this past summer to support my first attempt and absolute failure to make pumpernickel rye bread. In fact, it could still be on the lawn being used as a gnome house.
I said I would deliver a new twist on an old Irish recipe and so here it is…
Señorita Tijerina
“Whatever it is you are looking for, I hope you can eat it.”
Prosciutto and Irish cheddar soda bread biscuits
Yield: Makes 12 biscuits
Ingredients
½ stick Kerry Gold butter
4 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour + bench flour (extra flour)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. white pepper
2 cups buttermilk (substitution: 2 cups milk 2 T. lemon, let sit for 5 minutes)
½ cup ¼” diced prosciutto
½ cup Irish cheddar (or your own preference)
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 shallot, diced
(I use the pre-diced package of onion, garlic and shallot from Trader Joe’s)
Method
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Grease muffin tin with Kerry Gold butter.
In a skillet, sauté the diced prosciutto, onion, garlic and shallot, 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool on a paper towel to allow grease to soak up.
Toss cheese in 1/2 tsp. of flour and set aside.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, white pepper and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon or in an upright mixer with dough hook.
Gently fold in the sauté mix and cheese.
Place onto a lightly floured surface.
Pat the dough gently into a square shape.
Fold the dough in half several times, bringing the dough in from the outside toward the middle, all the way around. Add a pinch of flour if necessary. Pat into a larger square. Do not knead the dough.
Cut into 12 squares and shape each into a round disk and place it into the prepared muffin pan.
With a sharp knife, make two large slashes on the top.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake until lightly brown, about another 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven, remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack before serving.
photo credit: amy_b via photopin cc
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